life and love, more than romance
by alex the bordercollie
Summary: knuckles heart ached for her. And for a moment he got a glimpse at the real rouge, in that moment she was nothing more than a little girl who was hurting, and had been for a while. And no one ever even took notice.
1. prolog

Prolog

The house was dark but warm and smelled strongly of the smoke from his grandfather's pipe, as Kahrash a rather special seven year old boy sat on the rug by the fireplace flipping dutifully through the pages of the book of chaos. He struggled every now and again trying to understand the material contained within the book. Karash was born and raised on Angel Island, or Angelucorananta in the language of his ancestors. The island once housed the thriving civilization that had now all but died out, save for one small echidna and his grandfather who sat in a rocking chair by the fire place smoking his pipe thoughtfully. All though the people had died out their greatest treasure was still guarded by the few who had survived. A beautiful gem that had been bestowed upon them by the goddesses Alurashena. They called this gem, the master emerald, and through it the seven chaos emeralds could be controlled. For generations the guardians had been responsible for protecting this, one of the most powerful objects on Mobius. Kahrash's grandfather was the current guardian, and soon Kahrash would take his place. In preparation he was asked to study the book of chaos from beginning to end. The book of chaos was a series of twelve books written by a collection of accent philosophers and scientists who had studied the master emerald and the chaos emeralds. Karash had studied every page, knew every word by heart but this alone would not be enough to prepare him what lie ahead. They sat in a comfortable silence for a long time before his grandfather called to him "Kahrash". "tehsay?" he replied, looking up from the book he had been so absorbed in. "cuevata neh" his grandfather beckoned him closer.

Kahrash stood up then walked over to his grandfather's side "tehsay kehseso" his grandfather took a deep breath then spoke in his naturally slow wheezy voice "Kahrash" he sighed "mow noroto cuevateh etenirateh, were mow extinite tho sheronirateh, nowshiro tho nenecisar knavatashow shevatan cove natura mezoniteh"

(translation: Karash I won't be around forever, when I am leaving this world you will be left alone, no doubt you will need to know the ways of the surface dwellers)

Karash asked his grandfather why. "shey nokatehnosha ronaces mehsha locanat aluramay, sonat tho giverta shecenana, zomo tekoro tho postin were tho extinite"

(translation: if for no other reason than to find a bride, to provide an heir to take your place when you leave this world)

Karash knew of his obligations, to guard the master emerald and to provide and heir to take his place. but it had never accord to him that he would have to _leave_ the island to do that, for moment he was sad and almost frightened, he had never even been down to the surface, he only spoke what little English his grandfather had taught him, which wasn't much, and knew virtually nothing of their culture. His grandfather quieted his fears and assured him he would learn these things in time, he told Kahrash to leave Angel Island for one year to learn the ways of the surface dwellers, and then he could return home. "but what if you leave before I return" he cried "shekite" his grandfather soothed, and promised he would still be there when Kahrash made it home, "mow knavatashow tho feshina, bosh tho nenecisar showlerata livine shin boro mobines"

(translation: I know you are frightened, but you will need to learn to live in both worlds)

Karash nodded and promised to try his hardest and tell him all about his adventures when he returned. For those whom it may concern, the name Kahrash translates into to English as "knuckles"


	2. chapter 1

Chapter 1

The humble prince and the spoiled peasant

Rouge continued to flip her mirror open and closed, checking her make up every few seconds. "It has to be perfect when daddy gets here" she told herself, as she paced back and forth between the front drive and the garage. She would poke her head in the garage and count the cars "one, two, three, four…. Daddy took the red one, that's moms car" she would fidget with her purse then walk outside again "that's mom's car".

Rouge was eight years old but she certainly didn't act like it, she wore a pink mini skirt that barley covered her panties and a black top cut to show off her belly, along with gold bangles, some shinny earrings and a pound of makeup. She was waiting for her father to come home. He had promised her he would be home today for lunch. It was three hours past when they usually had lunch and he hadn't shown up. Rouge had refused to eat until her father got home.

She was just about to pull her mirror out again when her phone rang, nearly startling her into dropping her purse. Anxiously her pulled her phone out and flipped it open. "Daddy! Daddy are you almost home?" her father answered back his tone awfully pleasant as he replied.

"I'm sorry baby some things came up I won't be home for a few days,"

"DADDY!"

"Be sure to let Maya know"

"Common Simon were gonna be late", Rouge could hear her father's girlfriend Elain in the back ground "coming baby doll"

"Baby doll" Rouge growled inwardly as he said it. She couldn't stand that woman

"I'm sorry Rouge I gotta go"

"Wait Daddy!"

"I'm sorry baby"

"NO YOUR'E NOT!" Rouge screamed into the receiver before smashing her cell phone into a million pieces on the concrete. She was furious, her face flushed hot red as she tried not to cry. "He's always doing this to me" she moaned before storming off leaving her broken cell phone behind.

Rouge came from a very rich family. Lived in a big house on a hilltop surrounded by a thin forest, where she got whatever she wanted. Although there was rarely anything she wanted more than her father's attention. She stormed off past the front gates, she wasn't actually allowed to leave without permission but right now she didn't care, she just wanted to get far away, she needed time to vent.

After a while of walking she calmed down a bit and began to notice just how much her feet ached. It was boiling hot that day and she kept having to bat hungry mosquitoes away from her face. Her throat was dry and just as she was contemplating going back, she noticed something peculiar out of the corner of her eye. She turned and squinted through the heat distorted air. "That's a kid!" he wasn't moving simply lying under a tree. He looked asleep. "HEY! HEY YOU!" she cried waving her hands in the air. He didn't respond. She walked up to him and knelt down beside him. He had long red hair and practically dripped in strange gold jewelry, including a gold headband with intricate swirls and a small green gem, he also carried a satchel with a symbol painted on it in black and green that almost reminded her of a diamond. "Hey you, you know you shouldn't be out here" she said shaking his shoulder. He started to mumble some sort of gibberish under his breath but didn't wake up. Rouge looked up at the sun then back at the boy "looks like the heats all but fried his brain" she commented. After a moment she stood up and brushed off her clothes. "I'll go get help ok" she said then shouted over her shoulder as she ran back towards the house "don't go anywhere ok!" even though she was sure he couldn't hear her.

After the initial scolding she got from her nanny, the family butler and a couple other members of the cooking staff ran off and retrieved the boy and brought him to the house where he was lay down in the guest bedroom. All he could process were vague colors and sounds as he kept slipping in and out of consciousness. After a while he could hear voices, he didn't know at first what they were saying but didn't bother to take the time to understand them "ugh, mow cechati malosa" he moaned sitting up and rubbing a hand over his throbbing forehead. "You're awake"

"What did he say?"

"I don't know, maybe it's Spanish?" the voice handed him a glass of water which he took thankfully and quickly gulped down. Rouge watched as he sucked the water down eagerly, not seeming to notice that he was getting it all over his face. "Uhg, has no one ever taught you any manners?"She spat. "Dodateh" he said his eyes blinking open, he turned to see the people who had been talking. There was an older woman with dark skin black hair and brown eyes, and a young girl about his age. Her skin was dark two but not like the older woman, she had Wight hair and blue eyes."English?" he said curiously. It was funny to hear him talk when he said "English" it sounded more like "eg-lesh". He looked up and the girl and asked again. "Uh yea..." she said unsure what he was asking."Ah, English, I speak, not much, still lear-ning" Rouge wasn't sure how respond. Every time this kid spoke the words came out in awkward clumps with long pauses between them. "What do you speak then?" she ventured to ask "lavacoranata" he said, the word rolling effortlessly off his tongue. A word mind you Rouge wasn't sure _she_ could pronounce with such ease. He smiled at her. He seemed harmless enough. "What's your name" Rouges nanny Maya asked with a calm voice. "Kahrash" he said and smiled, nudging Maya with the empty glass "more please" Maya took the glass and filled it with the pitcher on the nightstand. "You call me Knuckles" he said as if you thought his regular name might be too hard to pronounce. "Knuckles? What kind of a stupid name is that?"

"Rouge!" Maya reprimanded her, handing the boy another glass of water, "is English" he said "English for Kahrash" then gulped down his second glass of water just as quickly as he had the first. Rouge wasn't sure she liked this boy, then again she wasn't sure what it was about him she disliked. Just as she was looking him over and turning these thoughts around in her mind, he stopped his cameling a moment to stare at her over the edge of his glass. Rouge became uncomfortably aware of this "what are you looking at!" there was a brief pause, "you pretty" he said. Then he received a response he wasn't expecting. A hard konk on the head! "_eeefffffa_… naylota. _Ky_…. WHY YOU HIT ME!" he shouted "eyes off you pervert!" "IS A COMPLEMENT" he retorted, dumping what water he had left in him cup on her. Rouge froze a moment in surprise at the cold water, but only for a moment, and once that moment was over Knuckles realized he had just made a big mistake.

"GET BACK HERE!"

"NO WAIT! I NO HIT A GIRL" he cried stumbling off the other side of the bed. Rouge grabbed a pillow and flung it hard, only to have Knuckles duck and watch the pillow sail over his head. "HA YOU MISS..." his gloating was interrupted as a second pillow pelted him dead in the face with enough force to knock him backwards."You were saying" Rouge cooed leaning over the edge of the bed to watch him spit a feather out of his mouth.

After a few minutes Maya, realizing this could go on for hours, broke up the fight. Kahrash was brought into the living room and introduced to the rest of the house. There was Maya, Rouge's nanny, (Knuckles wasn't sure what to make of that he assumed nanny must be another English word for mother) the family butler Jeffery (he figured a butler was some sort of leader since everyone else seemed to listen to him) there were some cooks and maids, an older man who tended the garden. "So many servants" he thought "They must be royalty". As he was shone about his head was reeling with questions many of which he couldn't figure out how to put to English words, even if he could figure out how to ask he was too busy answering the questions they kept asking him "where are you from" they would ask " long way away" he replied "how old are you?"

"In English calendar? Uhm… seven, I think"

"You're awfully young to be left all alone, where are your parents?"

"Gone, just Kehseso, he say I need learn ways of surface dwellers, can go home in one year"

"You mean you have to wait a year before you can go back?"

"say, I mean yes" he felt a little embarrassed by a slip like that, you knew what "yes" was but he was just so accustomed to answering in his own native tongue. Every now and again he would have to ask them to slow down, or repeat something for him. It was all rather frustrating, at this rate he would never speak fluent English. In the end Rouge's father was called and she was left to sit with Knuckles in the parlor and wait for Jeffery to return with a verdict, as to what they planned to do with the boy. She was kicked her feet, her arms crossed. Knuckles took notice of her obvious distress "I sorry I call you sleytep" he said "oh please, I don't even know what that means" she moaned thumping her head on the back of the chair. "then why you so upset" he asked with some degree of genuine concern "I'm not mad at you stupid, I'm mad at my dad, I'll be surprised if Jeffery can even get a hold of him" Knuckles paused a moment to consider what she said. Dad means father right? "Why you mad at you seso?" he asked. Rouge gritted her teeth and clawed at her arms. "It's none of you business" she spat back. Knuckles feeling a little hurt sat back and said no more on the topic.

After a while of explaining (without total success) they had gathered that Knuckles was obviously someone of importance where he came from, some other country they hadn't heard of. But Knuckles had still managed to convince them this was the truth, and his gold jewelry helped to back up his claims. After a while of waiting Jeffrey came back to let the children know how his talk with Rouge's father had gone. "Well I got a hold of Simon…" he started, Rouge tried to look indifferent, but rather failed as she continued to stare at Jeffery out of the corner of her eye."I explained your position to him Kahrash, he seemed sympathetic, a small child so far away from home…" Jeffery seemed to sigh inwardly as he added on a side note "at least once I told him about the gold" there was an awkward silence for a moment Knuckles fidgeted "so what he say?" Rouge leaned in closer unconsciously. "well he was willing to offer for you stay here for the remainder of the year and then we could take you home" Knuckles brightened at the idea, surely he could learn what he needed here, it would mean a lot less traveling, and a warm place to sleep. Yes he rather liked the idea, at least until "WHAT! I have to put up with this twit for a whole year!" Rouge shouted, and Knuckles smile quickly faded. "Rouge what's one year really?"

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Rouge being as spoiled as she was didn't like the idea of sharing anymore attention with anyone, let alone a boy she already didn't like from the get go. "what so problem?" Knuckles asked her calmly "I don't know why you're so keen on the idea, you know Daddy's only offering to help you because he thinks you're rich, I bet figures there's some money to be made"

"ROUGE!" Jeffery scolded "well Kahrash, your welcome to stay if you like, if you're not interested I understand" he added shooting Rouge a nasty glare, to which she shot back a couple of finely sharpened daggers. Knuckles thought for a moment, and ultimately decided that this was his best opportunity to learn about these strange surface dwellers, and it wouldn't likely come up again. He could deal with Rouges moodiness for a year.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Confessions

Christmas break was coming up soon, Knuckles had been living with Rouge for months now, even going to school with her. (Jeffery arranged it for convenience sake) Knuckles looked rather nice in the school uniform, although he still wore all of his golden jewelry along with it and insisted that his sandals were more comfortable than dress shoes, so he simply tucked his feet under him when a teacher walked by so they wouldn't notice the dress code violation. His first day at Rouges school hadn't gone all that well. He was teased by many of the students for his poor English and thick accent, which was all but gone away by now, but kids still made fun of him anyway. In turn Rouge had gone from the popular girl to the only poor sap who would be caught dead talking to Knuckles. Now it was just the two of them. They had all the same classes, at lunch they would sit in a secluded part of the playground and eat together. Rouge would complain about Knuckles turning her into a social outcast in a matter of a single day, to which Knuckles would reply "cheer up you're only in the third grade, I'm sure you'll make plenty of new friends next year". This didn't help much.

Today the two off them sat in the tunnels to the side of the play land. Rouge had a sandwich Maya had packed for her. Knuckles had one too although he seemed to express more interest in the snacks he had kept in his satchel. They looked a little like beef jerky with some other things mixed in, some spices, what appeared to be some kind of berries, nuts, ect. Rouge watched as he pulled one out of his satchel and nibbled on it thoughtfully "you've had those things since we found you months ago, and they still haven't gone bad?" Knuckles chuckled "tayoky don't go bad" he replied then handed her one "wanna try a bit" he asked. Rouge sniffed at it, it smelled alright. Curiously she took a small nibble, which she immediately spat bat out "ACK! TayGROSS is more like it, that's stuffs nasty" Knuckles laughed so loud his voice echoed throughout the concrete pipe they were sitting in "I guess it's more of a cwired taste" he said "an acquired" Rouge corrected. Knuckles looked down at his feet his smiled faded. Rouge had noticed that the better his English got the harder he was on himself when he messed it up. "Don't worry it's not that big a deal everyone mispronounces things once in a while" he didn't seem to perk up much. "oh well" she thought "let him sulk" she wasn't here to make him feel better she was here because his following her like a little lost puppy had cost her all of her friends. She scowled bitterly the more she thought about it. "Rouge, bell, their calling the kids back to class" he said shaking her out of her fuming. "Right class" she said in somewhat of a daze. She was still mad at Knuckles but if she was harsh with him now he wouldn't understand what he did wrong. "Patience rouge it's just like training a dog"

As they walked into rouges French class, to her dismay Mickey had already beat them there, which in his mind gave him right to launch a verbal attack "YOUR LATE!" he sneered. Mickey was a ratty looking kid and the bane of Rouge's existence. Ever since Knuckles showed up he'd been a pain in her ass, taking any opportunity to tease the both of them "oh shut up Mickey the late bell hasn't even rung yet" as a matter of fact the only ones in the room currently were her and Knuckles, Mickey, and a few of his crony's. "I see you brought your little pet along as usual" Knuckles was ready to punch his teeth out, which he had come close to doing a few times before had the teachers not intervened. Speaking of teachers where was Mrs. Lefevre? "Hey Rouge have you seen the teacher" Knuckles asked trying to ignore Mickey and his goons. "Nah she's probably still getting back from her lunch break why?" Knuckles could see the smug looks on the boys faces "how long do you think she'll be gone" he asked slowly. Rouge picked up on his scheming. Knuckles was never very subtle about anything "oh no you're not!" she reprimanded "Mickey's and annoying twit but I'm not letting you beat the shit out of him" to which Mickey who had been over hearing the entirety of the conversation replied "as if, I could beat that foreign nerd with one hand tied behind my back!"

"Oh really" knuckles stood up from his desk "how put we put that little theory to the test"

"Gladly" he sneered, and with a snap of his fingers his goons each stood up to take and defensive stance beside him. "Oh god", Rouge thought, "Someone put an end to this stupidity soon". And then just as if her prayers had been answered she heard her French teacher as she entered the room "Les garçons! Dans vos sièges, maintenant!" Knuckles didn't need to know French to know he was being scolded. They all sat down immediately and the teacher said something about talking to Knuckles after class. Rouge gave a sigh of relief. Thankfully her French class was the last class of the day, and thanks to the due diligence of Mrs. Lefevre there were no more outbursts for the remainder of the class. When the bell rang Mrs. Lefevre told Rouge to go on ahead while she spoke to Knuckles and Mickey after class. Of course it made little difference to Rouge since Knuckles stayed after with Mrs. Lefevre and Mrs. Smith everyday anyway for English lessons. She wandered out onto the playground. There were still some kids waiting to be picked up from school. She figured she may as well find something to do. Her ride wouldn't be here until after Knuckles private lessons were over. She wandered over to the swing set and swayed back and forth on it absent mindedly. After a while they kids started leaving one by one and the playground cleared out.

"Hey Rouge" she knew that annoying conceded voice, "what are you still doing here Mickey shouldn't you be going home?" she asked and turned her head around to see him. Many of his friends had left but the two biggest goons were still with him. A guy named Sparky who had been held back a couple grades and had arms the size of tree trunks, and Bulldog, a rather tall eight year old who was only slightly less painfully stupid then Sparky. Don and Maul must have already gone home. Mickey shrugged, "I wanted to talk to you that's all, I figured you be waiting while they tried to teach that imbecile how to read" Rouge glared at him "way to use big words Mickey" he twitched a moment but still managed to keep his cool as he strolled casually up to her, his goons trailing behind him. He was up close to her now, which made her get off the swing so she could take a few steps back. "I feel sorry for you having to put up with that idiot every day, to think you live with him" he shuttered as if to emphasis how awful it must be. Rouge was beginning to notice she was now standing in front of the jungle gym, and steadily moving backwards. "But I think I might be able to over look it" he said. They were now standing at the top of the jungle gym. Mickey in front of her, and his two goons blocking off the exits. "Leave me alone Mickey" she spat "only if you kiss me" he retorted "WHAT!" Was that what all this was about? One would suppose these things are bound to happen in a private school full of spoiled rich kids. The whole time he had been tormenting Knuckles, was that just because he was jealous? How stupid! "You've got to be kidding me!" Mickey grabbed hold of her arm, rather aggressively might she add. Rouge didn't like where this was going.

Knuckles had finished his lesson and was thinking about what the teachers had told him about anger management. When he heard Rouge at the top of the jungle gym. He turned, looked up and squinted a moment, to see Rouge being pinned in place by Mickey and his goons. There was a sudden adrenalin rush as he started to realize what was going on. Not half an instant after he saw this from the front door of the school he was already standing on the platform just below them "HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE". Mickey and Bulldog spun around to face him, while Sparky who had been holding Rouge in place was the first to spot the new challenger. Knuckles waited a moment for Mickey's response. He only seemed startled for an instant than straitened up and gave half hearted glare "go away red this doesn't concern you"

"THE HELL IT DOESN'T, you let her go or else"

"ooo, I'm sooo scared" Mickey retorted rolling his eyes and waving his hands in the air "or else what," but rather than waiting for a reply he snapped his figures and motioned for Bulldog to "take care of him for me". Knuckles found it rather sad these people answered to Mickey's commands like a couple of trained animals, but Bulldog seemed to be looking forward to the idea of beating him to a pulp. So he didn't feel too sorry for them. Knuckles scrambled up onto the same platform with them and managed to duck just in time to doge what would have been a heavy blow to the skull. Bulldog had to take a moment to rebalance himself. "alright I can do this" Knuckles thought . Bulldog was big but he certainly wasn't light on his feet, now Knuckles was no ballerina himself, but he had experience fighting such opponents before. Granted last time it was a baby bear not another kid. "Knuckles look out" Rouge shouted. But the warning came a little late and Knuckles was yanked back by a pair of enormous arms.

Rouge had now shifted hands Mickey was holding on to her so Sparky could grab Knuckles. By himself Sparky had a hard time keeping Knuckles still, he even managed to get and arm loose and punch him in the face before Bulldog came and pinned it behind his back. Now between the two of them he could barley move. "good work boys" Mickey complemented then shoved Rouge aside to free his hands to punch Knuckles in the face, "not so tuff now huh?" the first hit wasn't too bad by itself but it did ready Knuckles to brace himself for the bombardment that followed. One punch or kick, right after the other, mostly to the stomach and face. Rouge watched for a moment mortified, then once she managed to snap herself out of the initial shock tried to yank Mickey back by his shirt color, he spun around and slapped her so hard she fell backwards "stay out of this bitch". Alright that was it. Enough was enough. It was one thing to take a beating from a spoiled brat. But Knuckles wasn't going to sit by and watch Rouge take a beating for his sake "you're a coward" he spat. Mickey spun around "what did you say?"

"I said you're a coward, think your tough just cause you can beat up a little girl? You won't even fight be yourself, you have to let your goons do all the heavy lifting" Knuckles was goading him, he knew he could take Mickey in fight. It wouldn't even be all that hard. "oh please I'm not afraid of you"

"Then call of yours boys and fight me yourself" Knuckles was hoping Mickey was too angry to realize he was being baited "alright fine" he snapped his fingers again "let him go" Sparky and Bulldog exchanged nervous glances but let Knuckles go as commanded. Alright it worked. Knuckles got into his best fighting stance. He was rather looking forward to beating the snot out of Mickey. The boy lunged at him clumsily. It was clear he didn't know how to fight. He probably didn't even know there was an element of practice or skill involved. Knuckles dodged and punched him in the stomach… perhaps a little harder than he thought. Mickey fell back on the ground gripping his stomach and bawling "aw com'on I didn't hit you that hard" Knuckles started only to have Mickey sob louder. Damn, no doubt the teachers left in the building would hear all this racket and rush out to see what was going on. Without thinking too hard on it he grabbed Rouge by the wrist and ran off past Sparky and Bulldog. Rouge, who was in somewhat of a daze, didn't protest. They ran off and hid in the cement tunnels to the side of the playground where they usually ate lunch. Knuckles poked his head out and listened for the teachers. Sure enough they heard the noise and rushed out to investigate. Fortunately they didn't bother to look for Knuckles and Rouge they seemed more preoccupied with shutting Mickey up.

"Your nose is bleeding" Rouge said her voice a bit shaken. Knuckles placed a hand on his face. Sure enough he came back with blood on his fingers. "It's not that bad" he said "Mickey hits like a girl" he laughed lightheartedly. Rouge didn't seems amused, in fact she almost looked like she was about to break down. "I'm sorry, this is my fault"

"Now wait a sec, Mickey's an idiot, if anything blame his parents for that" Rouge turned away and pulled her knees up to her chest. She suddenly felt very small. "If I didn't dress like a slut all the time none of this would have happened" Knuckles didn't actually know what slut meant but the teachers told him it was a bad word and you shouldn't use it. He turned his attention back to her but didn't say anything, he just let her talk. " I guess I just thought… maybe if I looked more like Elian, Daddy might want to spend time with me too" Elian was Rouge's fathers girlfriend. He had learned that much a few weeks after coming to stay with Rouge. It was the first time he had ever seen Rouges father in person. The two of them looked a lot alike, except Rouge's father didn't have the same Latin skin that Rouge had." My mom died two years ago" she said. "I, I'm so sorry"

"Don't apologize it's not your fault" she snapped, than continued on "not two weeks after mom died dad started dating Elian" Rouge seemed to tense up next to him " and ever since he would rather spend time with her than with me" she almost shouted. Then for a moment she was quiet, then added in somewhat of a wistful tone "dad got this little red sports car for her on their anniversary a few years back, they used to take it out at night and just drive around in it for hours, just the two of them" her voice trailed off then her face turned bitter again "and now he lets that bitch ride around in the front seat!" she shouted, slamming her fist on the concrete. Knuckles worried for a moment the teachers might hear, but thankfully they had all gone inside and were nowhere to be seen. Rouge suddenly seemed to crumple. Her body went limp and tears started pouring over eyes, smearing dark makeup all over her face. She wrapped her arms around her knees and hid her face in them. "That was mom's car" she sobbed "that was mom's car" Knuckles heart ached for her. And for a moment he got a glimpse at the real Rouge, in that moment she was nothing more than a little girl who was hurting, and had been for a while. And no one ever even took notice. He wrapped his arm around her gently and let her cry for what felt like hours. Once she quieted down a bit he spoke "if it makes you feel any better I know what it's like"

"How could you possibly know" she spat glaring at him from behind her still folded arms. "My mother died giving birth to me and my father left when I was young" he said. Rouge poked her head up a moment. "Why did he leave?"

"I don't know" Knuckles replied "one day he just wasn't there, he had taken all his things and left no warning, he never came back" Knuckles trailed off a moment " he could have at least left a note" he said. Rouge stared off into the distance a moment, her eyes opened by this new information. She leaned back and rested her head on his shoulder. "do you ever miss him" she asked "sometimes" Knuckles replied "and then I hate myself for it, I mean you shouldn't miss people who don't care about you…right?" he said although he sounded unsure "I guess sometimes I just wish I knew why he left, I wonder if maybe I did something wrong…" Rouge could relate "I want my dad around, but then when he is home I'm to mad at him to enjoy it, I feel so stupid wanting to see him" she admitted

The two of them sat there in silence for a long while. Who would have ever guessed the two of them had so much in common. Before they were two complete strangers. Each serving as an ambassador of their respective cultures. But now… they were just two kids. Lonely and seeking some sort of comfort. In this moment they felt closer to one another than they had anyone else in their lives. Which made Knuckles feel all the more guilty.

After a while they walked home, to find the house was just about to send a search party. They were rushed from the moment they stepped in with a barrage of questions. Rouge's shofer had waited for her at the school for a few hours, and no one showed up, he panicked and returned home to tell Jeffery and Maya. By the time Knuckles had made it to the house a number of lovely black and blue bruises had formed, which sent Maya into even more of a frenzy. She dragged him off to the other room and insisted he take off his shirt so she could inspect the rest of the damage. In all the chaos the close personal moment they had shared was momentarily forgotten. However one thought still lingered heavily on Knuckles mind. His year was almost up, and pretty soon he would be leaving all these people, who had become like family to him, behind. He could only hope they would all understand. That Rouge would understand…


	4. chapter 3

Chapter 3

The runaway

"WHAT!" Rouge screamed. She obviously wasn't taking the news all that well. Knuckles tried to quiet her before anyone else heard her screaming. "look, I thought you should be the first to know…" he started "BUT IT'S NOT FAIR," she interrupted "you can't, leave you just can't" Knuckles was used to her hysterics by now but this was almost painful to listen to. "Please Rouge you have to understand I have to leave, Kehseso, he's still waiting for me". Rouge had learned at this point that Kehseso was what Knuckles called his grandfather. His old decrepit grandfather. "Why does he care so much about him?" she thought "what about me, am I not enough?"

"Besides" Knuckles continued "I have responsibilities remember"

"Right" she spat with that venomous tone of hers "watching that stupid rock"

"it's not a stupid rock" he yelled .Knuckles didn't talk much about his home, mostly because when he claimed to live on a magic floating island, well… Rouge was a bit more than skeptical. "you know I think you just make up all this stuff because you just don't want to deal with me anymore". That hurt. Could Rouge be annoying sometimes? Sure. But he would never lie to her. Didn't she know that? Didn't she know she could trust him by now? "Rouge" couldn't she see? He didn't _want _to leave he **had** to.

"Jeffery" Rouge said rather suddenly "what?" he replied "and Maya" she said "they'll never let you leave, not on your own at least". Right. The people in this house had all become like family to him, they all cared about him. "Which is precisely why I wasn't going to tell them I was leaving, I was going to leave a note" but Rouge wasn't listening, the gears were spinning in her head. He had learned by now that anytime something happened that Rouge didn't like, she was dammed determined to change it. In some cases this could be a good thing, but more often her manipulative cunning was used for evil, than good. Sensing where her thoughts were headed he grabbed Rouges arms and gave her a little shake "Rouge I only told you because , I wanted to say goodbye" Rouge looked him in the eyes and saw the sincerity there "please don't take advantage of that" he pleaded. Rouge looked sad, but understanding. "Whatever" she mumbled and pulled away, her gaze falling dismally to the floor. Knuckles put a hand on her shoulder "cheer up, I'm not leaving till tomorrow ok" Rouge nodded slighting then sulked away. "Well that could have gone better" he thought "but at least I shouldn't have too much trouble leaving" little did he know the gears in her head were still turning. Rouge hadn't giving up just yet.

Ever since her conversation with Knuckles the other day she had been working on putting her plan into motion. If Knuckles left she would be right back where she started. Constantly craving attention, constantly being ignored. Knuckles was the only friend she had, and she wasn't going to let him slip away that easily. No she wasn't going to force him to stay, quite the contrary. She was going with him! It didn't really matter too much to her where they were going. All she knew was that there was nothing worth sticking around this place for, and going with Knuckles was an opportunity for adventure. "I think that's it" she said confidently as she finished packing her backpack. She stood there a moment going over her check list. Bags packed? check. Car keys? Check. Credit card? Check. Decent threat? Check, and check. She was feeling rather proud of her self. She looked around her bedroom for a moment. "Nothing else I need to bring" she thought, she had already loaded up the rest of her bags in the car. She felt almost sad for a moment looking around her bedroom. She would never be coming back here. She pushed the thought aside and tried to convince herself that there would be nothing left here to miss. "Now to get Knuckles" she thought. Grabbing her back she stalked off to his room. It was the middle of the night, the rest of the house hold was asleep, Knuckles however was just finishing up his note to Maya and Jeffery. He frowned as he looked at his ugly handwriting. Writing in his native language, the symbols were neat and tidy, but English characters seemed much harder to produce. Just as he was signing his name at the bottom Rouge walked in. "ready to go?" Rouge asked tapping on the door. Knuckles jumped a moment, then turned to see her "uhm sure? Come to see me off?" he asked. He rather liked to think that they last time they spoke together wouldn't be when they were fighting. "no I'm here to offer you a ride" she said, Knuckles looked at her quizzically as she strolled up to him. It was then he noticed the backpack slung around her shoulder "wait a sec, I never said I was bringing you with me!"

"You're bringing me?" she exclaimed "actually from my stand point it would appear that I was bringing you, after all I'm the one with the car" she pulled a little silver key from her pocket and twirled it around her finger. "oh please Rouge I might not know much, but I do know and eight year old can't drive" Rouges sharp smile didn't falter "who says I can't" she said. "look you have no reason to deny me, I've got a car, I've got cash, and, if you don't let me come I can always tell Maya and Jeffery what you're up to, old Jeffy's a _very_ light sleeper" she cooed. Knuckles looked as if he had, rather suddenly, been hit by a falling satellite. Of all the sneaky manipulative… Rouge had pulled some interesting stunts before, but this? This took the cake. "Rouge" he growled "now now Knuckles, wouldn't want to wake the others" she said tapping her figure on his lips, then turning around and walking off, swishing her hips in that way she did when she felt as though she had achieved some great victory. Rouge was feeling especially proud of herself and she wasn't afraid to show it.

Knuckles tried to argue with her as he followed her to the garage, but she didn't seem to hear him. "This is pointless" he thought "I guess I'll just wait until she crashes the car into a lamppost and gives up" but as usual Knuckles was far under estimating of her determination. Rouge clicked on the lights in the garage and opened its big metal door with the click of a button "com'on Knucky lets go" she said sauntering up to a smaller silver car towards the back. "Rouge what exactly do you plan to do, it's not like you have a license" he puffed. "I don't need one" she said opening the door to the driver's seat. Then turning to face him before climbing in "this once automated, all I have to do is tell it where to go and the computer dose the rest for me" Knuckles looked a bit stupefied, he didn't know cars could do that. She swung into the driver's seat and thumped the passenger's seat next to her with her hand, "hop in" Knuckles looked as it suspiciously then reluctantly slipped in to the seat and watched as the door slipped back down on its own, and gave an affirming click to let him know it was locked.

"Well" Rouge said "where to, you're the navigator". Knuckles looked at the devise next to the cars steering wheel "uh Angel Island" he said giving Rouge a confused look. "It's a computer Knuckles" she said "you need to be a little more specific than that, like an address or something"

"It's a floating island it doesn't have an address!" he barked. Rouge kicked her feet on the seat "well at least give me some directions and we can work with that" Knuckles thought a moment then pulled a map out of his satchel. He had drawn it on the way here so he could use it to find his way back. He handed it to Rouge "will this work?"He said. Rouge looked at it, first right side up , then upside down, then sideways. "I can't make sense of any of this" she said "it just looks like a bunch of lines and squiggles" Knuckles mumbled something under his breath in lavacoranata, he was obviously annoyed. "oh hey I know" she said then tossed Knuckles map in his face, and reached down for a small compartment by his feet "mom made sure my dad kept some road maps in every car, because he was always getting lost" she said removing a piece of paper that had been folded long ways a number of times. She unfolded it. The map was so big is stretched over both of their laps, for a good long while they sat there comparing the two maps, trying to figure out where Knuckles landmarks would be located on the regular map. After a while Rouge had been able to find out the name of the town that was closest to Knuckles island, or at least she was fairly confident. "There, Green Hill, that's where we'll go"

"Are you sure" Knuckles asked examining the map, but of course once Rouge had made up her mind on something it could not be swayed. She gave her destination to the little computer on the dashboard, it replied in a monotone voice and the car slowly and smoothly made its way out of the garage, and off they went.

Now you would think with a car that drove itself that they would have had smooth sailing the entire trip, and after a while Knuckles was beginning to perk up when he saw what good time they were making. Distances that would have taken days to walk only took a few hours. Every now and then they would stop somewhere for snacks, they mostly slept in the car though, and tried not to bring to much attention to themselves. Everything was going smoothly, until they came to a bit of road work that is. The car tried to find a rout around it and instead just ended up going in circles so Knuckles and Rouge had to direct its every turn. They sat there and argued over which way they needed to go. After a while they found themselves on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. "So much for your stupid smart car" he said "don't worry we can get ourselves back on track in the next town"

"Rouge were lost, what if the next town isn't for miles and miles, we have no way of knowing" Rouge was trying to keep her cool, and beginning to fail "alright then we'll just run around" she said. But the dirt road they were on was only one way and the car refused to turn. "just grab the wheel and turn it" Knuckles shouted "I'm trying" Rouge replied "it won't budge" Knuckles, getting frustrated, leaned over and tried to turn the wheel himself. Little did he know as he did this his chest accidently clicked the button that turned off the cars automatic driver. Suddenly the wheel swung to the left much easier than he expected it would and the whole car swerved violently to the left. For a moment they both grabbed hold of whatever they could as the car tumbled into a ditch. It was a dizzying few seconds before everything went black.

After a while she started to regain consciousness. Rouge had never been in a car wreck before but so far it didn't seem too bad. She looked up a moment. The car had been flipped on its side. Knuckles head was resting on her knee while his foot was stuck in-between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat, his hands still gasped tightly on the steering wheel. Luckily the airbags were set only to go off if the person in the driver's seat was of the appropriate weight class. For a second she tried to sit up, only to have a sharp pain seer her back. She lifted her hand and found blood on it. She was sitting on top of the driver's side door, the window had been completely smashed and the shattered glass had shredded her back. The sight of her own blood made her feel a little woozy. Carefully she sat up and turned her neck to look behind her, to see the shattered window. She cringed a moment then shook her head to try and refocus her attention on something else. She turned to Knuckles and nudged his shoulder "hey Knuckles, you ok" she asked softly. He didn't respond "hey Knuckles wake up!"

"Oh god" she though "please don't be dead"

She shook him and he started to wake up. At first he just moaned some incomprehensible babble, then suddenly tightened his grip on the string wheel and started screaming. It took a moment for Rouge to realize when was going on. Rouge was so small that she had slipped out of her seat belt when they crashed, Knuckles however, jumped up and quickly yanked his seatbelt off. Rouge watched as it flung back to its proper spot on the door, flinging specks of blood as it lashed back into place like a whip, then hung there above them, the metal hook gleaming like the eyes of a snake after its recoiled. The seatbelt had torn a deep gash into the side of Knuckles neck. For a moment he looked horrified holding his hand up to his neck but being careful not to touch the wound. He was muttering something in his native tongue. Rouge reached for his pant leg and tugged on the material to get his attention "you ok?" she asked. "Kind of a stupid question" she thought "it's a pretty obvious no" but she could think of nothing better to say. Knuckles noticed the blood dripping down Rouge's arms and his own pains were momentarily forgotten "Rouge, you're hurt"

"Its fine" she said "just a few scratches that's all"

Knuckles looked doubtful, and Rouge wondered how it was with an injury like that he could still be more concerned for her well being than his own. After a moment Knuckles looked around the car "we should try and get out of here" he said at last. Since the car was on its side that meant two of the doors were no longer an option, there was really only one logical way out at this point. So they climbed upward, and after a moment of struggling with the latch on the door which had been jammed by the force of the impact, they managed to climb out. Knuckles grabbed her by the waist as she hopped down out of the car. Looking behind her she could see the underside of it, two of its wheels twirled uselessly in the air.

"Well it could have been worse I suppose" Knuckles mused, as he stared up at the twisted hung of metal. Rouge took another look at his neck "hey Knuckles there should be a first aid kit in the trunk, you think maybe we could still get it open?"

"sure I guess" he shrugged. Together the two of them struggled with the trunk which had been bent and mangled on the side that had hit the ground, but found no matter what they tried they couldn't open it. "Give it up Knuckles this is useless" Rouge sighed. Knuckles turned and looked at her, as if giving up on this meant giving up on everything. He was trying not to succumb to hopelessness by finding things to do. "Don't worry Knuckles" she said "we'll still get the first aid kit, just not like this" Rouge noticed a small space where the trunk was open just enough she might be able to reach inside. "Over here" she said, and bending down on the ground, reached in to try and grab the first aid kit. After a while of groping around she could feel the smooth plastic box "I think I found it" she said "well can you get it out?"

"no" she sighed "it's too far back". Knuckles walked off and returned with a long stick. "let me try" he said. Rouge pulled her arm out and sat back and watched as Knuckles reached his stick into the trunk and fished around for a bit. Sure enough he managed to return victorious. It took a minute to fit the box through the small hole in the trunk but they managed.

First, Rouge insisted that a cut on Knuckles neck was tended to. It really wasn't as bad as it had first appeared, it bled a lot but wasn't all that deep and thankfully hadn't cut anything important. After tending to his neck, Knuckles insisted on treating Rouges injuries as well. This turned out to be rather embarrassing and a little difficult. For one rouge had to take off her shirt so he could get to the cuts on her back to clean off the blood and pick out the bits of broken glass. "oh hell no!"

"Rouge quit being so stubborn" he growled. Rouge was only eight and didn't really have boobs yet but it was the principle of the thing. "I'm not taking off my shirt!" but eventually she gave in, but kept on her training bra. Knuckles figured this was a fair enough compromise. He went about the task rather carefully and diligently, trying his best not to hurt her, it wasn't easy though. Her wings though small kept getting in the way. Every now and then his figure would run along the edge of her bra looking for glass and she would snap at him and he would move on to some other part of her back. After they had both been patched up, and Rouge had decided to throw out her shirt since it was tattered bloody and full of glass they sat by the car with a couple of blankets Rouge had packed, and a flashlight they had found in the trunk. "Maps a first aid kit, now flashlights" Knuckles said "it's almost as if your mother knew something like this would happen"

"mom always made sure to be prepared for anything, better safe than sorry she would say" never the less Rouge smiled as though she rather liked the idea that her deceased mother was still looking out for her in some small way.

The next day the two of them paced about in the cold yelling at one another about how they would get back to civilization and whose fault it was that they were stuck in the middle of nowhere and what not. This could have gone on for another several hours had Rouge not spotted a truck in the distance "hey Knuckles look" Knuckles turned and saw it too. It was an old rusted green pickup truck. Rouge ran out into the road waving her hands in the air like mad "hey over here!hey!" the car slowed to a stop. The driver rolled down the window and leaned out. He was an older man with old worn clothes. "What on Mobius are a couple youngsters like yourselves doing way out here," he said then noticed the car on the side of the road "what it in the world!" Rouge started to explain as the man gawked at the car and scratched his head "we were in a bit of an accident" she explained "where are your parents?" he asked. Rouge quickly came up with a nice lie "they went up ahead to look for help" the old man didn't seem to put too much thought into the story Rouge was feeding him. "Well I'll tell you what" he said "next towns just a few miles down the road, you kids hop in the back and I'll take ya there"

"perfect" Rouge and Knuckles climbed up into the truck bed and slowly the car rumbled back to life and continued on down the road, bobbing violently up and down as they went. "Hey mister" Rouge asked

"Hm?"

"What's the name of this town anyway?"

"Green Hill" he replied.


End file.
